Science Sim

Today's class was very interesting. I had never done work or activities using any kind of program like this. We used science sim, which is a virtual world type thing where we can explore and do different activities. Today we mainly just got ourselves logged in and made sure everything was correctly set up. It took us a while to get every one logged in and to the right place so there was some wasted time where we just sat around. This type of program really isn't my thing, but it was pretty interesting. I'm sure it took a lot of work to set something up like this and get it working correctly. I wasn't sure how we would use this in the classroom, but he told us a few ways. We could have the students gather around the computer and explore different cultures by setting them up on the program. He said its possible o create worlds and add their characteristics from previous knowledge. The students could also role play while logged on because they can chat with each other and just play different roles. Another use would be for a student interested in architecture and design. They can go in and create civilizations and different building and things. It is a very cool program, but I don't see myself using it in my classroom with grade school age students.